Projects: Titan Series (2007-2008)

After settling in central Pennsylvania, I began exploring the landscape and phenomena in the local rural environment. I was soon fascinated by the large silos that dotted the landscape and realized that these structures had links to my boyhood memories. As a boy growing up in the later stages of the Cold War, I naively remember thinking that the silos probably hid missiles. I was fascinated that this perfect utilitarian object could be used for subterfuge. After arriving in Annville I soon devised a project, entitled the “Titan Series” (after these famous Cold War ICBMs), in which the artwork itself would become the phenomenon. On different nights through the fall and winter season of 2006 and 2007 I would project an image, using five projectors, onto a storage silo. They would only appear briefly (two hours) before disappearing. Because there was no prior warning, only those who drove past would witness the 75 foot images. I watched with interest as local word-of-mouth communication spread about these strange and transitory images that appeared in different parts of Lebanon County. Baffled and increasingly perplexed, people began contacting the media asking if anyone knew the source of these unaccountable images that appeared in the darkened landscape. Many of those who witnessed the images said that it changed the way they viewed silos. Others were amazed that art could be so powerfully visible in a rural landscape.